This state-of-the-art facility combines traditional library services with cutting edge technology. The Albany Park Branch is the first of the Chicago Public Libraries to include a self-checkout station and is one of six new library locations with YOUmedia digital programming for teens. The library was developed based on a prototypical design and includes book stacks, reading areas, study rooms, a computer media room, a community room, administrative offices and work areas, as well as a green roof.

Located on a prominent site in the Chinatown neighborhood of Chicago, the new 16,000 sq. ft. Chinatown Branch Library aims to create a new civic, educational and social hub for the surrounding community, providing a place of discovery and learning in the new digital age. The state-of-the-art library offers a unique blend of traditional library services and the cutting edge technology featured in 21st century libraries, as well as striking modern architecture and community specific design features. The library has a large central space for community gathering and a large, a glass-enclosed community room for events and programs and two meeting rooms for small group work. It features a large reading room, a YOUmedia digital media space for teens, an expanded community room, children's reading room, meeting space for community use, state of the art technology, Wi-Fi, and self-checkout stations.

This rowing training and boat storage facility is the fourth of four boathouses built as a revitalization effort of the Chicago River. It is the second of two dbHMS boathouses in this program (the first being WMS Boathouse at Clark Park), both designed by Studio Gang Architects. The Design-Bid-Build project consists of two buildings containing boat storage and rental services, an exercise area and event space.

Since 1998, the Chicago Park District has been transforming the old Indiana Railroad yard located along the edge of the South Branch of the Chicago River and Chinatown Community into an impressive rolling green space with community gathering areas, athletic ball field, children’s playground, and Chinese landscape design elements.

ROLLING KNOLLS

LocationElgin, IL

LEED RatingPlatinum

Rolling Knolls is a resurrected year-round recreational facility on a former golf course site. The pavilion includes an event space that can accommodate up to 80 guests, as well as an annex meeting room that can seat up to 20. Both spaces have large windows to provide plenty of daylighting and great views of natural surroundings as well as access to the outdoor patio area.

The WMS Boathouse at Clark Park is the premier rowing center for the City of Chicago, offering year-round training and facilities. Creating a key public access point along the river’s edge, the $8.8 million facility supports the larger movement toward an ecological and recreational revival of the Chicago River. The 22,660 sq. ft. boathouse is actually comprised of two buildings: a one-story boat house for storing rowing shells, rental kayaks, and canoes and a two-story fieldhouse with a rowing tank, small offices, a community room, and an exercise area. Sustainable design strategies have been woven throughout the building, which include small rain gardens, permeable concrete on the plaza, to reduce rainwater can run-off, and daylighting to reduce dependence on electric light fixtures.